Classifying data using machine learning

ABSTRACT

Techniques for data classification include receiving, at a local computing system, a query from a remote computing system, the query comprising data associated with a commodity, the data comprising one or more attributes of the commodity; matching the one or more attributes of the commodity with one or more terms of a plurality of terms in a word matrix that includes a plurality of nodes that each include a term of the plurality of terms and a plurality of links that each connect two or more nodes and define a similarity between the two or more nodes; generating, based on the matching, a numerical vector for the business enterprise commodity; identifying one or more classification regions that each define a classification of the commodity; and preparing the classifications for display at the remote computing system.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to classifying data and, more particularly,classifying data using an adaptive learning machine.

BACKGROUND

A piece of data can be classified by assigning the data into one or morecategories of a given number of categories. For example, goods andservices can be classified into categories that are represented bycategory codes by assigning data that represent the goods and servicesinto one or more categories. To classify a good or service, a textualdescription of the good or service may be converted into a correspondingcategory code. In some instances, business enterprises may find ithelpful to classify purchases by categories of goods and services.Moreover, some business enterprises may find it helpful for such goodsand services to be rated, e.g., for quality or otherwise. Given the verylarge numbers of goods and services, and more so categories of suchgoods and services, determining which category a particular good orservice falls into, if any, may be difficult.

SUMMARY

This disclosure describes systems, methods, apparatus, andcomputer-readable media for classifying data, such as data thatrepresent commodities, using an adaptive learning machine including, forexample, the features of receiving, at a local computing system, a queryfrom a business enterprise computing system, the query including dataassociated with a business enterprise commodity, the data including oneor more attributes of the business enterprise commodity; matching theone or more attributes of the business enterprise commodity with one ormore terms of a plurality of terms in a word matrix, the word matrixincluding: a plurality of nodes that each include a term of theplurality of terms; and a plurality of links that each connect two ormore nodes and define a similarity between the two or more nodes;generating, based on the matching, a numerical vector for the businessenterprise commodity; identifying, based on the numerical vector, one ormore classification regions that each define a classification of thebusiness enterprise commodity; and preparing the classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity of the one or more identifiedclassification regions for display at the business enterprise computingsystem.

A first aspect combinable with any of the general embodiments includesreceiving a set of terms, each term of the set of terms is labeled witha correct classification; matching the one or more attributes of thebusiness enterprise commodity with one or more terms of the set ofterms; generating the numerical vector based on matching the one or moreattributes of the business enterprise commodity with one or more termsof the plurality of terms in the word matrix and one or more terms ofthe set of terms; identifying one or more classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity based on the numerical vector; andpreparing the one or more classifications of the business enterprisecommodity for display at the business enterprise computing system.

A second aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects furtherincludes prior to receiving the query from the business enterprisecomputing system, building the word matrix.

In a third aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, buildingthe word matrix includes searching for content associated with aplurality of business enterprise commodities; parsing the content intothe plurality of terms to define the plurality of nodes; and applying asemantic proximity model to the plurality of terms to define theplurality of links, wherein a link that connects two or more nodesdefines a semantic similarity between the two or more nodes.

In a fourth aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, buildingthe word matrix further includes applying a string similarity model tomap a term of the plurality of terms into a similar term, wherein a linkthat connects two or more nodes defines a string similarity between thetwo or more nodes.

In a fifth aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, theclassification is defined by a first classification level in a pluralityof classification levels defined in a classification hierarchy.

In a sixth aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, theplurality of classification levels include a segment classificationlevel, a family classification level, a class classification level, acommodity classification level, and a business function classificationlevel.

In a seventh aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, theclassification includes the commodity classification level.

An eighth aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects furtherincludes transmitting the classifications of the business enterprisecommodity of the one or more identified classification regions fordisplay at the business enterprise computing system; receiving aselection of one of the classifications of the business enterprisecommodity from the business enterprise computing system; and updatingthe word matrix based on the received selection.

In a ninth aspect combinable with any of the previous aspects, updatingthe word matrix based on the received selection includes creating adirect link between the nodes including terms matching the one or moreattributes.

A system of one or more computers can be configured to performparticular actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, ora combination of them installed on the system that in operation causesor cause the system to perform the actions. One or more computerprograms can be configured to perform particular actions by virtue ofincluding instructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus,cause the apparatus to perform the actions.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented so as to realize none, one, or more of thefollowing advantages. An adaptive learning machine for classifying datacan convert textual descriptions into corresponding category codes wherethe textual descriptions are unstructured or contain very few terms, orthe terms in the textual descriptions are abbreviated or misspelled. Theadaptive learning machine may use an external corpus of text documentsto augment the set of labeled data. The external corpus of textdocuments is used in an unsupervised way to derive string similaritiesand/or semantic similarities. These similarity models are then used bythe adaptive learning machine together with labeled data to buildclassification models. The classification models can be extended forclassifying data that is represented by textual descriptions indifferent languages by using a multi-language external corpus of textdocuments to derive word similarities. Moreover, the use of anun-labeled external corpus of text documents reduces the need for costlylabeled data.

These general and specific aspects may be implemented using a device,system or method, or any combinations of devices, systems, or methods.The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description anddrawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example distributed computing system operable toclassify commodities using an adaptive learning machine;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example flowchart for building a classificationmodel for classifying commodities using an adaptive learning machine;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example classification system hierarchy;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example word matrix;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example graphical representation of aclassification model;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example flowchart for classifying commoditiesusing a classification model; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an example interface of a client that displaysclassification categories in response to a query.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a general embodiment of the present disclosure, an adaptive learningmachine uses unsupervised learning and supervised learning to classifydata. The data represents an entity, such as a person, place, thing,data record, word, or the like. For unsupervised learning, the adaptivelearning machine uses an external corpus of text documents to build aword matrix. The word matrix is a term-to-term similarity matrixgenerated using semantic similarity and/or string similarity derivedfrom an external corpus of text documents. The word matrix includesnodes and links. A node contains a term, and a link connects two or morenodes and defines a semantic proximity or a string similarity betweenthe terms in the linked nodes. For supervised learning, the adaptivelearning machine receives a set of terms that have been labeled with thecorrect classifications. The adaptive learning machine uses the wordmatrix, the set of labeled terms, and/or additional attributesassociated with the data to classify the data.

In some embodiments, the adaptive learning machine receives a query thatincludes data that describes, for example, attributes of a commodity,from a client and assigns the attributes of the commodity to one or moreclassifications using the word matrix, the set of labeled terms, and/oradditional attributes associated with the commodity. The adaptivelearning machine assigns the attributes of the commodity to one or moreclassifications by, for example, matching the attributes of thecommodity with one or more terms in the word matrix or the set oflabeled terms. Based on the matching, the adaptive learning machinedetermines a classification of the commodity. After the adaptivelearning machine determines the classification, the adaptive learningmachine prepares the classification of the commodity for display at theclient.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example distributed computing system 100 operableto classify data using an adaptive learning machine 102. In someembodiments, the adaptive learning machine 102 employs supervisedlearning. In some embodiments, the adaptive learning machine 102 employsunsupervised learning. In some embodiments, the adaptive learningmachine 102 includes a support vector machine (SVM) that analyzes dataand recognizes patterns, and may be used for classification andregression analysis. For example, the adaptive learning machine 102 mayreceive inputs and predict, for each given input, which of two possibleclasses includes the input. In other words, the adaptive learningmachine 102 as an SVM may be a classifier that provides a binary output(e.g., tool passage or no tool passage). Typically, a support vectormachine constructs a point, line, plane, or hyperplane in a one, two,three, four or higher (including infinite) dimensional space to act as aclassifier or model. The line may be replaced with a curve or a set oflines or curves, the plane with a manifold or set of planes ormanifolds, and the hyperplane with a set of hyperplanes, which can beused for classification, regression, or other tasks such as ranking andanomaly detection. In general, the adaptive learning machine buildsclassification and regression models using a set of labeled data.However, in cases where labeled data are costly, the adaptive learningmachine can be configured to learn in a semi-supervised way, from asmall set of labeled data and a much larger set of unlabeled data.

Turning to the example implementation of FIG. 1, the illustratedenvironment 100 includes or is communicably coupled with the adaptivelearning machine 102 and one or more clients 135, at least some of whichcommunicate across network 132. In general, environment 100 depicts anexample configuration of a system capable of providing statefulexecution of stateless applications in a substantially transparent way,as well as dynamically determining the particular application's mode ofoperation in response to requests from its clients 135.

In general, the adaptive learning machine 102 may be a server thatstores one or more hosted applications 114, where at least a portion ofthe hosted applications 114 are executed via requests and responses sentto users or clients within and communicably coupled to the illustratedenvironment 100 of FIG. 1. An example of a hosted application 114 is adata classification application based on adaptive learning. An exampleof a data classification application is a commodity classificationapplication. The commodity classification application is executed by theadaptive learning machine 102 to receive queries that describeattributes of commodities from remote clients 135, identify aclassification of the commodity, and prepare the classification fordisplay at a client 135 in response to the query.

In some instances, the server 102 may store a plurality of varioushosted applications 114, while in other instances, the server 102 may bea dedicated server meant to store and execute only a single hostedapplication 114. In some instances, the server 102 may include a webserver, where the hosted applications 114 represent one or moreweb-based applications accessed and executed via network 132 by theclients 135 of the system to perform the programmed tasks or operationsof the hosted application 114. At a high level, the server 102 includesan electronic computing device operable to receive, transmit, process,store, or manage data and information associated with the environment100. Specifically, the server 102 illustrated in FIG. 1 is responsiblefor receiving application requests from one or more client applications144 associated with the clients 135 of environment 100 and responding tothe received requests by processing said requests in the associatedhosted application 114, and sending the appropriate response from thehosted application 114 back to the requesting client application 144.

In addition to requests from the external clients 135 illustrated inFIG. 1, requests associated with the hosted applications 114 may also besent from internal users, external or third-party customers, otherautomated applications, as well as any other appropriate entities,individuals, systems, or computers. As used in the present disclosure,the term “computer” is intended to encompass any suitable processingdevice. For example, although FIG. 1 illustrates a single server 102,environment 100 can be implemented using two or more servers 102, aswell as computers other than servers, including a server pool. Indeed,server 102 may be any computer or processing device such as, forexample, a blade server, general-purpose personal computer (PC),Macintosh, workstation, UNIX-based workstation, or any other suitabledevice. In other words, the present disclosure contemplates computersother than general purpose computers, as well as computers withoutconventional operating systems. Further, illustrated server 102 may beadapted to execute any operating system, including Linux, UNIX, Windows,Mac OS, or any other suitable operating system. According to oneembodiment, server 102 may also include or be communicably coupled witha mail server.

In the present implementation, and as shown in FIG. 1, the server 102includes a processor 111, an interface 129, a memory 117, and one ormore hosted applications 114. The interface 129 is used by the server102 for communicating with other systems in a client-server or otherdistributed environment (including within environment 100) connected tothe network 132 (e.g., client 135, as well as other systems communicablycoupled to the network 132). Generally, the interface 129 includes logicencoded in software and/or hardware in a suitable combination andoperable to communicate with the network 132. More specifically, theinterface 129 may include software supporting one or more communicationprotocols associated with communications such that the network 132 orinterface's hardware is operable to communicate physical signals withinand outside of the illustrated environment 100.

Generally, the network 132 facilitates wireless or wirelinecommunications between the components of the environment 100 (i.e.,between the server 102 and the clients 135), as well as with any otherlocal or remote computer, such as additional clients, servers, or otherdevices communicably coupled to network 132 but not illustrated inFIG. 1. The network 132 is illustrated as a single network in FIG. 1,but may be a continuous or discontinuous network without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure, so long as at least a portion of thenetwork 132 may facilitate communications between senders andrecipients. The network 132 may be all or a portion of an enterprise orsecured network, while in another instance at least a portion of thenetwork 132 may represent a connection to the Internet. In someinstances, a portion of the network 132 may be a virtual private network(VPN), such as, for example, the connection between the client 135 andthe server 102.

Further, all or a portion of the network 132 can include either awireline or wireless link. Example wireless links may include802.11a/b/g/n, 802.20, WiMax, and/or any other appropriate wirelesslink. In other words, the network 132 encompasses any internal orexternal network, networks, sub-network, or combination thereof operableto facilitate communications between various computing components insideand outside the illustrated environment 100. The network 132 maycommunicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, Frame Relayframes, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video, data, andother suitable information between network addresses. The network 132may also include one or more local area networks (LANs), radio accessnetworks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks(WANs), all or a portion of the Internet, and/or any other communicationsystem or systems at one or more locations.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, server 102 includes a processor 111. Althoughillustrated as a single processor 111 in FIG. 1, two or more processorsmay be used according to particular needs, desires, or particularembodiments of environment 100. Each processor 111 may be a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a blade, an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or anothersuitable component. Generally, the processor 111 executes instructionsand manipulates data to perform the operations of server 102 and,specifically, the one or more plurality of hosted applications 114.Specifically, the server's processor 111 executes the functionalityrequired to receive and respond to requests from the clients 135 andtheir respective client applications 144, as well as the functionalityrequired to perform the other operations of the hosted application 114.Regardless of the particular implementation, “software” may includecomputer-readable instructions, firmware, wired or programmed hardware,or any combination thereof on a tangible medium operable when executedto perform at least the processes and operations described herein.Indeed, each software component may be fully or partially written ordescribed in any appropriate computer language including C, C++, Java,Visual Basic, assembler, Perl, any suitable version of 4GL, as well asothers. It will be understood that while portions of the softwareillustrated in FIG. 1 are shown as individual modules that implement thevarious features and functionality through various objects, methods, orother processes, the software may instead include a number ofsub-modules, third party services, components, libraries, and such, asappropriate. Conversely, the features and functionality of variouscomponents can be combined into single components as appropriate. In theillustrated environment 100, processor 111 executes one or more hostedapplications 114 on the server 102.

At a high level, each of the one or more hosted applications 114 is anyapplication, program, module, process, or other software that mayexecute, change, delete, generate, or otherwise manage informationaccording to the present disclosure, particularly in response to and inconnection with one or more requests received from the illustratedclients 135 and their associated client applications 144. In certaincases, only one hosted application 114 may be located at a particularserver 102. In others, a plurality of related and/or unrelated hostedapplications 114 may be stored at a single server 102, or located acrossa plurality of other servers 102, as well. In certain cases, environment100 may implement a composite hosted application 114. For example,portions of the composite application may be implemented as EnterpriseJava Beans (EJBs) or design-time components may have the ability togenerate run-time implementations into different platforms, such as J2EE(Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), ABAP (Advanced BusinessApplication Programming) objects, or Microsoft's .NET, among others.Additionally, the hosted applications 114 may represent web-basedapplications accessed and executed by remote clients 135 or clientapplications 144 via the network 132 (e.g., through the Internet).Further, while illustrated as internal to server 102, one or moreprocesses associated with a particular hosted application 114 may bestored, referenced, or executed remotely. For example, a portion of aparticular hosted application 114 may be a web service associated withthe application that is remotely called, while another portion of thehosted application 114 may be an interface object or agent bundled forprocessing at a remote client 135. Moreover, any or all of the hostedapplications 114 may be a child or sub-module of another software moduleor enterprise application (not illustrated) without departing from thescope of this disclosure. Still further, portions of the hostedapplication 114 may be executed by a user working directly at server102, as well as remotely at client 135.

The illustrated server 102 also includes memory 117. Memory 117 mayinclude any memory or database module and may take the form of volatileor non-volatile memory including, without limitation, magnetic media,optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memory component.Memory 117 may store various objects or data, including classes,frameworks, applications, backup data, business objects, jobs, webpages, web page templates, database tables, repositories storingbusiness and/or dynamic information, and any other appropriateinformation including any parameters, variables, algorithms,instructions, rules, constraints, or references thereto associated withthe purposes of the server 102 and its one or more hosted applications114. For example, memory 117 may store a word matrix 120 that includesnodes containing terms and links defining a semantic proximity and/orstring similarity between terms in the linked nodes. The memory 117 maystore a set of terms labeled with the correct classification that isreceived from a user of the server 102. Additionally, memory 117 mayinclude any other appropriate data, such as VPN applications, firmwarelogs and policies, firewall policies, a security or access log, print orother reporting files, as well as others.

The illustrated environment of FIG. 1 also includes one or more clients135. Each client 135 may be any computing device operable to connect toor communicate with at least the server 102 and/or via the network 132using a wireline or wireless connection. Further, as illustrated byclient 135 a (e.g., an enterprise client system), each client 135includes a processor 141, an interface 139, a graphical user interface(GUI) 138, a client application 144, and a memory 147. In general, eachclient 135 includes an electronic computer device operable to receive,transmit, process, and store any appropriate data associated with theenvironment 100 of FIG. 1. It will be understood that there may be anynumber of clients 135 associated with, or external to, environment 100.For example, while illustrated environment 100 includes three clients(135 a, 135 b, and 135 c), alternative implementations of environment100 may include a single client 135 communicably coupled to the server102, or any other number suitable to the purposes of the environment100. Additionally, there may also be one or more additional clients 135external to the illustrated portion of environment 100 that are capableof interacting with the environment 100 via the network 132. Further,the term “client” and “user” may be used interchangeably as appropriatewithout departing from the scope of this disclosure.

Moreover, while each client 135 is described in terms of being used by asingle user, this disclosure contemplates that many users may use onecomputer, or that one user may use multiple computers. As used in thisdisclosure, client 135 is intended to encompass a personal computer,touch screen terminal, workstation, network computer, kiosk, wirelessdata port, smart phone, personal data assistant (PDA), one or moreprocessors within these or other devices, or any other suitableprocessing device. For example, each client 135 may include a computerthat includes an input device, such as a keypad, touch screen, mouse, orother device that can accept user information, and an output device thatconveys information associated with the operation of the server 102 (andhosted application 114) or the client 135 itself, including digitaldata, visual information, the client application 144, or the GUI 138.Both the input and output device may include fixed or removable storagemedia such as a magnetic storage media, CD-ROM, or other suitable mediato both receive input from and provide output to users of the clients135 through the display, namely, the GUI 138.

Further, the illustrated client 135 includes a GUI 138 including agraphical user interface operable to interface with at least a portionof environment 100 for any suitable purpose, including generating avisual representation of the client application 144 (in some instances,the client's web browser) and the interactions with the hostedapplication 114, including the responses received from the hostedapplication 114 received in response to the requests sent by the clientapplication 144. Generally, through the GUI 138, the user is providedwith an efficient and user-friendly presentation of data provided by orcommunicated within the system. The term “graphical user interface,” orGUI, may be used in the singular or the plural to describe one or moregraphical user interfaces and each of the displays of a particulargraphical user interface. Therefore, the GUI 138 can represent anygraphical user interface, including but not limited to, a web browser,touch screen, or command line interface (CLI) that processes informationin environment 100 and efficiently presents the information results tothe user.

In general, the GUI 138 may include a plurality of user interface (UI)elements, some or all associated with the client application 144, suchas interactive fields, pull-down lists, and buttons operable by the userat client 135. These and other UI elements may be related to orrepresent the functions of the client application 144, as well as othersoftware applications executing at the client 135. In particular, theGUI 138 may be used to present the client-based perspective of thehosted application 114, and may be used (as a web browser or using theclient application 144 as a web browser) to view and navigate the hostedapplication 114, as well as various web pages located both internal andexternal to the server, some of which may be associated with the hostedapplication 114. For purposes of the present location, the GUI 138 maybe a part of or the entirety of the client application 144, while alsomerely a tool for displaying the visual representation of the client andhosted applications' 114 actions and interactions. In some instances,the GUI 138 and the client application 144 may be used interchangeably,particularly when the client application 144 represents a web browserassociated with the hosted application 114.

While FIG. 1 is described as containing or being associated with aplurality of elements, not all elements illustrated within environment100 of FIG. 1 may be utilized in each alternative implementation of thepresent disclosure. Additionally, one or more of the elements describedherein may be located external to environment 100, while in otherinstances, certain elements may be included within or as a portion ofone or more of the other described elements, as well as other elementsnot described in the illustrated implementation. Further, certainelements illustrated in FIG. 1 may be combined with other components, aswell as used for alternative or additional purposes in addition to thosepurposes described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example flowchart 200 for building aclassification model for classifying data, such as data representingcommodities, using an adaptive learning machine. Without loss ofgenerality, the commodity in flowchart 200 can be replaced with anotherentity, such as a person, place, data record, word, and the like. Theadaptive learning machine can be a system of one or more computers thatperform the process 200. For purposes of illustration, the process 200will be described with respect to a computing system that includes anadaptive learning machine, e.g., the adaptive learning machine 102 ofFIG. 1, that performs the process 200.

To build a classification model for classifying commodities, theadaptive learning machine uses a classification system. FIG. 3illustrates example classifications, categories, and category codes of aclassification system that has a hierarchical structure, such as theUnited Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC), the WorldCustoms Organization Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System,or the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification(SITC). As shown in FIG. 3, the classification system may have multipleclassification levels. The classification levels include, for example, asegment classification level 302, a family classification level 304, aclass classification level 306, a commodity classification level 308,and a business function classification level (not shown). Eachclassification level can include multiple categories, and each categoryhas a corresponding category code. Alternatively, the classificationsystem may include any number of levels different from that shown inFIG. 3.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the adaptive learning machine builds a wordmatrix at step 201. Turning briefly to FIG. 4, an example word matrix400 is illustrated. The illustrated word matrix 400 is built on the term“camera.” The word matrix 400 includes nodes 405 and links 410. Eachnode 405 of the word matrix 400 contains a term. Each link 410 connectstwo or more nodes 405 and defines a semantic proximity or a stringsimilarity between the nodes 405 connected by the link 410. For example,link 410 a defines a string similarity between nodes 405 a and 405 d,and link 410 b defines a semantic similarity between nodes 405 c and 405e.

To determine the nodes 405 and the links 410 of the word matrix 400, theadaptive learning machine searches for content associated withcommodities. For example, the adaptive learning machine uses a thesaurusto identify semantically related terms. From a thesaurus (for example),the adaptive learning machine determines that the words “image” and“picture” in FIG. 4 are semantically related, even though the words aredifferent. Additionally or alternatively, the adaptive learning machineuses an unsupervised model trained on a large corpus of text documents,such as product catalogs, encyclopedias, and other suitablepublications, to find correlation between words. The adaptive learningmachine parses the product catalogs and encyclopedias into terms. Theterms that tend to occur frequently in proximity of each other insentences or that tend to occur in similar contexts are used to definethe nodes 405 of the word matrix 400. Terms that tend to occurfrequently in proximity of each other may be, for example, “laptopcomputer.” Terms that tend to occur in similar contexts may be, forexample, “book” and “manual” from the sentences “I read a manual” and “Iread a book.” In this case, the terms “manual” and “book” occur incontext with the term “read.” For the example word matrix of FIG. 4,from product catalogs, the adaptive learning machine can determine thatthe terms “Canon” and “Nikon” are associated with digital cameras.

The adaptive learning machine, in some embodiments, applies a semanticproximity model to the terms to define the links 410 between the nodes405. Because product descriptions are sometimes abbreviated ormisspelled, the adaptive learning machine can use string similarity tomap a term into a similar term. The adaptive learning machine cancombine string similarity and semantic similarity techniques to generatethe word matrix 400. The word matrix 400 can be generated forclassifying commodities that are described using different languages. Inthis case, the links 410 connect nodes 405 containing semanticallyrelated terms in different languages.

In some instances, the adaptive learning machine determines similarityscores between nodes of the word matrix based on the number of linksbetween nodes. For example, the adaptive learning machine determinessimilarity scores from a number of links between the nodes that containterms associated with a commodity. In some instances, the adaptivelearning machine determines similarity scores between nodes of the wordmatrix based on the number of unique paths. For example, in the wordmatrix of FIG. 4, the adaptive learning machine determines a similarityscore between the terms “autofocus” and “picture” from the number ofunique paths between the nodes that contain the terms “autofocus” and“picture.” Alternatively (or additionally), the adaptive learningmachine may determine similarity scores between nodes based on acombination (e.g., weighted) of the number of links between the nodesand the number of unique paths.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the adaptive learning machine generates asemantic vector for each term of the word matrix, at step 202. Theadaptive learning machine maps each term of the word matrix to a set ofnumbers representing that term. The semantic vector has the propertysuch that similar textual descriptions will tend to have similarvectors. For example, the terms “ampicillin” and “tetramycin” may havesimilar vectors because both terms describe an antibiotic. On the otherhand, textual descriptions of different commodities will tend to havedifferent vectors. For example, the term “book” can be mapped to asemantic vector [0.3 0.01 0 0.65 . . . 0.105], the term “manual” can bemapped to a semantic vector [0.41 0.0001 0.02 0.4 . . . 0.20], and theterm “dog” can be mapped to a semantic vector [0.001 0.2 0.1 0.02 . . .0.01]. In this case, the numerical representation of the terms “book”and “manual” are similar, but different from the numericalrepresentation of the term “dog.”

By generating a semantic vector for each term, the adaptive learningmachine can use the word matrix to convert a textual description of acommodity into a semantic vector. For example, the adaptive learningmachine can use the similarity scores to convert the textual descriptionof the commodity into the semantic vector. The semantic vector can be ahigh dimensional vector representation (e.g., a few hundred numbers) ofthe textual description of the commodity.

The adaptive learning machine receives a set of terms that have beenlabeled with the correct classifications from a user of the adaptivelearning machine, at step 203. The adaptive learning machine can receiveadditional information related to commodities, such as vendorinformation, a name of a company that manufactures the commodity, anindustry code, price, weight, or dimensions. For example, the adaptivelearning may receive the set of terms “a Lenovo T510 laptop computer, 16GB RAM, 200 GB disk” and the corresponding classification of “computingdevice.”

The adaptive learning machine generates a classification vector thatrepresents the commodity description, at step 204. The adaptive learningmachine combines the semantic vector for each term of the commoditydescription generated from the word matrix with additional dimensionsthat represent additional properties of the commodity (e.g., the set oflabeled terms, and/or the additional information) to generate theclassification vector that represents the commodity description. Theclassification vector is associated with the correct classification thatwas received from the user.

The classification vectors of a classification model can be representedgraphically. FIG. 5 illustrates an example graphical representation of aclassification model 500. For simplicity, the classification vectors ofFIG. 5 include two numbers for a two dimensional graphicalrepresentation. The classification model 500 of FIG. 5 includes fourgroups of classification vectors 502, 504, 506, 508. Each classificationvector in a group is associated with the same classification. Forexample, group 502 includes classification vectors associated with theclassification “cameras.” Group 504 includes classification vectorsassociated with the classification “electronic components.” Group 506includes classification vectors associated with the classification“computers.” Group 508 includes classification vectors associated withthe classification “antibiotics.”

Referring again to FIG. 2, from the groups of classification vectors,the adaptive learning machine identifies classification regionscorresponding to different classifications, at step 205. For example, toidentify the classification regions in the example classification model500 of FIG. 5, the adaptive learning machine identifies decisionsurfaces 510, 512 that separate the vector space into differentclassifications. The adaptive learning machine can include a supportvector machine that identifies the decision surfaces 510, 512. Thedecision surfaces 510, 512 divide the vector space of the classificationmodel 500 into regions, with each region corresponding to aclassification. The regions can correspond to classifications at anyclassification level. To classify a commodity using the classificationmodel 500, the adaptive learning machine identifies the classificationby identifying the classification region associated with a vectorrepresenting the commodity.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example flowchart 600 for classifying commoditiesusing, for example, the classification model 500 of FIG. 5. Without lossof generality, the commodity in flowchart 600 can be replaced withanother entity, such as a person, place, data record, word, and thelike. For purposes of illustration, the process 600 will be describedwith respect to a computing system that includes an adaptive learningmachine, e.g., the adaptive learning machine 102 of FIG. 1, thatperforms the process 600 and a remote client, e.g., clients 135 of FIG.1.

The adaptive learning machine receives a query from a client, e.g., abusiness enterprise computing system, at step 602. The query includesdata associated with a commodity. The data includes one or moreattributes of the commodity. For example, the adaptive learning machinereceives a query for “Canon EOS 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR.” Theattributes of the commodity are the terms in the query, such as “Canon,”“EOS,” “12.2 MP,” “CMOS,” “Digital,” and “SLR.”

At step 604, the adaptive learning machine matches one or moreattributes of the commodity with one or more terms in a word matrixand/or one or more terms in a set of labeled terms. For the examplequery “Canon EOS 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR,” the adaptive learningmachine searches a word matrix, such as word matrix 400 shown in FIG. 4,for terms that match the attributes “Canon,” “EOS,” “12.2 MP,” “CMOS,”“Digital,” and “SLR.” Using word matrix 400, the adaptive learningmachine matches the attributes “Canon” and “digital” in the query to theterms “Canon” and “digital” in the word matrix 400. In some instances,the adaptive learning machine searches a set of labeled terms for termsthat match the attributes “Canon,” “EOS,” “12.2 MP,” “CMOS,” “Digital,”and “SLR.” For example, the set of labeled terms can include the term“SLR.” The adaptive learning machine matches the attribute “SLR” in thequery with the term “SLR” in the set of labeled terms. The adaptivelearning machine can use suitable matching techniques, such as fuzzymatching to account for misspelled words. In fuzzy matching, theadaptive learning machine will search for terms that approximately matchthe attributes of the commodity.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the adaptive learning machine generates anumerical vector that represents the matched attributes of thecommodity, at step 606. The adaptive learning machine generates thenumerical vector based on the attributes matched to terms in the wordmatrix and the attributes matched to terms in the set of labeled terms.For example, each term in the word matrix is associated with a semanticvector, and the adaptive learning machine identifies the semantic vectorassociated with the term in the word matrix that matches an attribute ofthe commodity. The adaptive learning machine can combine the semanticvector with additional dimensions that represent the attributes of thecommodity that matched terms in the set of labeled terms to generate thenumerical vector.

The adaptive learning machine identifies one or more classifications ofthe commodity, at step 608. The adaptive learning machine identifies oneor more classifications based on the numerical vector corresponding tothe attributes of the commodity. For example, the adaptive learningmachine identifies a classification region of a classification model,e.g., the classification model 500 of FIG. 5, that is associated withthe numerical vector. The classification associated with the identifiedclassification region is the most likely classification of thecommodity. For the example classification model 500 of FIG. 5, theadaptive learning machine identifies the classification regionassociated with the classification “cameras” as the classification thatmost likely corresponds to the commodity. Based on a classificationsystem, e.g., the classification system shown in FIG. 3, the adaptivelearning model determines that the classification level of “cameras” isthe class classification level.

In some instances, the adaptive learning machine can identify anotherpossible classification of the commodity. The other classification canbe in a different classification level, e.g., the commodityclassification level. For example, the adaptive learning machine canidentify the classification “Digital Cameras” in the commodityclassification level 308 in FIG. 3 as another classification of thecommodity. The commodity can thus be classified as “Digital cameras” inthe commodity classification level and “Cameras” in the classclassification level. In some instances, the other classification can bea different classification. For example, if the adaptive learningmachine determines that the numerical vector associated with thecommodity lies at or near a boundary of the classification region, theadaptive learning machine can identify the classification of theadjacent classification region that shares the boundary as anotherpossible classification of the commodity.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the adaptive learning machine transmits theclassifications of the commodity for display at the client at step 610.FIG. 7 shows an example interface 705 of a client that displays theclassifications. In FIG. 7, a user of the client has entered a query for“Canon EOS 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR” in the query box 710. Afterprocessing the query as described above, the adaptive learning machinetransmits the classifications of the commodity to the client. The clientdisplays the classifications received from the adaptive learning machinealong with buttons 720 that the user can select to indicate that aclassification is the correct classification. Once the user selects thecorrect classification, the client transmits the selection to theadaptive learning machine. If the adaptive learning machine did notidentify the correct classification, the user can search for the correctclassification by selecting the “Browse Categories” button 725 on theuser interface. The client then displays a hierarchical list ofclassifications from which the user can select the correctclassification.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the adaptive learning machine receives aselection of a classification of the commodity from the client at step612. Based on the received selection of a classification, the adaptivelearning machine updates the word matrix, the set of labeled terms,and/or the classification model at step 614. To update the word matrix,the adaptive learning machine creates nodes for each attribute of thecommodity described by the query that did not match a term in the wordmatrix. The adaptive learning machine, for instance, may create a directlink between the nodes that contain the terms matching the attributes ofthe commodity, including the newly created nodes. To update the set oflabeled terms, the adaptive learning machine labels each attribute withthe selected classification and adds the labeled attribute to the set oflabeled terms. To update the classification model, the adaptive learningmachine modifies the decision surfaces that separate the vector spaceinto different classifications so that the classification regioncorresponding to the correct classification includes the data pointrepresenting the numerical vector associated with the attributes of thecommodity. When the adaptive learning machine receives a query at alater time describing a commodity that has one or more of the sameattributes as the processed query, the adaptive learning machine willidentify the selected classification based on the updated word matrix,the set of labeled terms, and the classification model.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made. For example, othermethods described herein besides or in addition to that illustrated inFIG. 2 may be performed. Further, the illustrated steps of method 200may be performed in different orders, either concurrently or serially.Further, steps may be performed in addition to those illustrated inmethod 200, and some steps illustrated in method 200 may be omittedwithout deviating from the present disclosure. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed with a distributed computingsystem for classifying one or more commodities, the method comprising:receiving, at a local computing system, a query from a businessenterprise computing system, the query comprising data associated with abusiness enterprise commodity, the data comprising one or moreattributes of the business enterprise commodity; matching the one ormore attributes of the business enterprise commodity with one or moreterms of a plurality of terms in a word matrix, the word matrixcomprising: a plurality of nodes that each comprise a term of theplurality of terms; and a plurality of links that each connect two ormore nodes and define a similarity between the two or more nodes;generating, based on the matching, a numerical vector for the businessenterprise commodity; identifying, based on the numerical vector, one ormore classification regions that each define a classification of thebusiness enterprise commodity; and preparing the classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity of the one or more identifiedclassification regions for display at the business enterprise computingsystem.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a set ofterms, each term of the set of terms is labeled with a correctclassification; matching the one or more attributes of the businessenterprise commodity with one or more terms of the set of terms;generating the numerical vector based on matching the one or moreattributes of the business enterprise commodity with one or more termsof the plurality of terms in the word matrix and one or more terms ofthe set of terms; identifying one or more classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity based on the numerical vector; andpreparing the one or more classifications of the business enterprisecommodity for display at the business enterprise computing system. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to receiving the queryfrom the business enterprise computing system, building the word matrix.4. The method of claim 3, wherein building the word matrix comprises:searching for content associated with a plurality of business enterprisecommodities; parsing the content into the plurality of terms to definethe plurality of nodes; and applying a semantic proximity model to theplurality of terms to define the plurality of links, wherein a link thatconnects two or more nodes defines a semantic similarity between the twoor more nodes.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein building the wordmatrix further comprises: applying a string similarity model to map aterm of the plurality of terms into a similar term, wherein a link thatconnects two or more nodes defines a string similarity between the twoor more nodes.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the classification isdefined by a first classification level in a plurality of classificationlevels defined in a classification hierarchy.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the plurality of classification levels comprise a segmentclassification level, a family classification level, a classclassification level, a commodity classification level, and a businessfunction classification level.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein theclassification comprises the commodity classification level.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting the classificationsof the business enterprise commodity of the one or more identifiedclassification regions for display at the business enterprise computingsystem; receiving a selection of one of the classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity from the business enterprise computingsystem; and updating the word matrix based on the received selection.10. The method of claim 9, wherein updating the word matrix based on thereceived selection comprises: creating a direct link between the nodescomprising terms matching the one or more attributes.
 11. A computerstorage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprisinginstructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the oneor more computers to perform operations comprising: receiving, at alocal computing system, a query from a business enterprise computingsystem, the query comprising data associated with a business enterprisecommodity, the data comprising one or more attributes of the businessenterprise commodity; matching the one or more attributes of thebusiness enterprise commodity with one or more terms of a plurality ofterms in a word matrix, the word matrix comprising: a plurality of nodesthat each comprise a term of the plurality of terms; and a plurality oflinks that each connect two or more nodes and define a similaritybetween the two or more nodes; generating, based on the matching, anumerical vector for the business enterprise commodity; identifying,based on the numerical vector, one or more classification regions thateach define a classification of the business enterprise commodity; andpreparing the classifications of the business enterprise commodity ofthe one or more identified classification regions for display at thebusiness enterprise computing system.
 12. The computer storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a set ofterms, each term of the set of terms is labeled with a correctclassification; matching the one or more attributes of the businessenterprise commodity with one or more terms of the set of terms;generating the numerical vector based on matching the one or moreattributes of the business enterprise commodity with one or more termsof the plurality of terms in the word matrix and one or more terms ofthe set of terms; identifying one or more classifications of thebusiness enterprise commodity based on the numerical vector; andpreparing the one or more classifications of the business enterprisecommodity for display at the business enterprise computing system. 13.The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operations furthercomprise: prior to receiving the query from the business enterprisecomputing system, building the word matrix.
 14. The computer storagemedium of claim 13, wherein building the word matrix comprises:searching for content associated with a plurality of business enterprisecommodities; parsing the content into the plurality of terms to definethe plurality of nodes; and applying a semantic proximity model to theplurality of terms to define the plurality of links, wherein a link thatconnects two or more nodes defines a semantic similarity between the twoor more nodes.
 15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, whereinbuilding the word matrix further comprises: applying a string similaritymodel to map a term of the plurality of terms into a similar term,wherein a link that connects two or more nodes defines a stringsimilarity between the two or more nodes.
 16. The computer storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:transmitting the classifications of the business enterprise commodity ofthe one or more identified classification regions for display at thebusiness enterprise computing system; receiving a selection of one ofthe classifications of the business enterprise commodity from thebusiness enterprise computing system; and updating the word matrix basedon the received selection.
 17. A system of one or more computersconfigured to perform operations comprising: receiving, at a localcomputing system, a query from a business enterprise computing system,the query comprising data associated with a business enterprisecommodity, the data comprising one or more attributes of the businessenterprise commodity; matching the one or more attributes of thebusiness enterprise commodity with one or more terms of a plurality ofterms in a word matrix, the word matrix comprising: a plurality of nodesthat each comprise a term of the plurality of terms; and a plurality oflinks that each connect two or more nodes and define a similaritybetween the two or more nodes; generating, based on the matching, anumerical vector for the business enterprise commodity; identifying,based on the numerical vector, one or more classification regions thateach define a classification of the business enterprise commodity; andpreparing the classifications of the business enterprise commodity ofthe one or more identified classification regions for display at thebusiness enterprise computing system.
 18. The system of claim 17,further comprising: receiving a set of terms, each term of the set ofterms is labeled with a correct classification; matching the one or moreattributes of the business enterprise commodity with one or more termsof the set of terms; generating the numerical vector based on matchingthe one or more attributes of the business enterprise commodity with oneor more terms of the plurality of terms in the word matrix and one ormore terms of the set of terms; identifying one or more classificationsof the business enterprise commodity based on the numerical vector; andpreparing the one or more classifications of the business enterprisecommodity for display at the business enterprise computing system. 19.The system of claim 17, further comprising: prior to receiving the queryfrom the business enterprise computing system, searching for contentassociated with a plurality of business enterprise commodities; parsingthe content into the plurality of terms to define the plurality ofnodes; and applying a semantic proximity model to the plurality of termsto define the plurality of links, wherein a link that connects two ormore nodes defines a semantic similarity between the two or more nodes.20. The system of claim 17, further comprising: transmitting theclassifications of the business enterprise commodity of the one or moreidentified classification regions for display at the business enterprisecomputing system; receiving a selection of one of the classifications ofthe business enterprise commodity from the business enterprise computingsystem; and updating the word matrix based on the received selection.